I needed an image of my Hasselblad to go with a column I wrote for theOnlinePhotographer. I could choose from Nikon macro lenses on Kodak full frame bodies, Sony macros on 24 megapixel bodies and 120mm Makro Planars on Hasselblad bodies but I decided to use the right tool for the job and make the image with my Olympus Pen 60mm 1.5 lens on my Panasonic GH2 body. The file is immaculate. Couldn't do better with anything else. The background was filled with barbed wire and op art and all kinds of nasty detail but look at that depth of field control... Okay, the wall in the background is painted gray but it does have some imperfections that aren't showing up because of the DOF.
You can't find the 60mm's anymore. I'd gladly sell mine for $5,000 if you really need one. But the 75mm 1.5 is probably just as good. And a lot cheaper than combing through the collector market.
Part of getting really good lenses at good prices is being able to see the future. I bought mine in 1982.
My advice today? Run out and buy some film Hasselblad stuff. Get mint condition stuff. Not to shoot (you could if you felt moved to...) but to collect. They're not making it anymore and it really was the soul of film photography...
Thanks for reading. No ads today.
Bill Beebe sent me this link: http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/meet-the-new-boss-worse-than-the-old-boss-full-post/
Read it and think about how artists are increasingly (not) compensated. I don't want to get into a thing with anybody but it's an well argued POV.
Thanks, Bill.
